CONTROLLED OVARIAN HYPERSTIMULATION INTRAUTERINE INSEMINATION CYCLES IN SUBFERTILE COUPLES - EFFECT OF A 6-DAY-ONLY LABORATORY WORK WEEK ONCYCLE FECUNDITY RATES

OBJECTIVE: Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) combined with int rauterine insemination (IUI) is commonly used to improve fecundability in subfertile couples with tubal patency. Daily hormonal and/or sonog raphic monitoring is considered important to minimize risks and determ ine optimal timing of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administratio n. No patient monitoring or IUI services are available on Sundays in o ur program. We sought to determine if lack of Sunday monitoring and IU I services adversely affected cycle fecundity (CF) in our COH-IUI prog ram. STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively analyzed 1,336 consecutive COH-I UI cycles and compared the CF rate for IUIs performed on either Saturd ay or Monday (group I) with those done on Tuesday through Friday (grou p II). Cycles where IUIs would have been ideally scheduled on Sunday, as determined by the patient's estradiol level and/or ultrasound, were performed on either Saturday or Monday by altering the day of hCG adm inistration. RESULTS No difference existed in patient age, diagnosis, treatment or number of total motile sperm inseminated between groups I and II. The CF rate for group I (13.8%/cycle) was not significantly d ifferent than that for group II (11.8%). CONCLUSION: We were unable to demonstrate any significant effect on pregnancy rates of suboptimal h CG timing in COH-IUI cycles resulting from the lack of Sunday services .